Halcyon, a small, colorful bird that lives near the sea, is forced to lay eggs in the heavy winter. According to the Greek, ancient myth, Zeus took pity of Halcyon and brought a few days of good weather in January for it to be able to safely lay eggs.

From an astronomical point of view, in this period of short summer, a star cluster is at its peak during the afternoons of January. This is the constellation of Halcyon, which is always more visible during the days of this little break from the heavy winter. It has been established, therefore, that the period 16-31 January is called "halcyon days".

From a purely meteorological aspect, the halcyon days as days of fine weather can be explained by the fact that the latitude of the Mediterranean area up to the latitude of Northern Europe, in the winter a high barometric pressure is in effect, resulting to the lack of strong winds and weather being sunny, even if it is still rather chilly. The presence of the sun, especially in Cyprus, where the winters are generally mild, means that we enjoy somewhat higher temperature. Thus, the temperature on a winter midday, such as today, may feel like 20 degrees.

The photos from winter walks in Limassol prove that this season does have something reminiscing of spring. The good weather is expected to continue throughout the weekend, with temperatures around 18° C. This kind of weather will not be around much longer, though, so get out and take advantage of it.

Check this out to plan the  days ahead.

Photos: Αndreas Christoforou, irenec1993, xatzhs_, vicky.tz, vanaky22